Pubdate: 2 April 1999
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
Copyright: Telegraph Group Limited 1999
Contact:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Author: Sandra Laville

12 YEARS FOR SHOWJUMPER'S WIFE INVOLVED IN COCAINE DEAL

THE "intelligent and talented" wife of a leading British showjumper,
has been jailed for 12 years for her part in a UKP2 million cocaine
smuggling ring.

Patricia McMahon, 50, whose husband Paddy McMahon was a European
Champion in the Seventies, had "suppressed all the common sense and
standards", by which she had run her life after becoming involved in a
"passionate affair" with a convicted drug smuggler, Anthony Lavene.

As McMahon began her sentence, an international hunt continued for
Lavene, 54, who escaped from Wormwood Scrubs in February dressed as a
guard while he awaited trial. With her husband watching from the
public gallery at Isleworth Crown Court, McMahon wept in the dock as
Judge Andrew McDowall expressed his sadness at her involvement in such
a crime. He said: "You are now very well aware of the evil that is
involved in drug trafficking. I can accept that you were not the one
who started this enterprise, but you were involved in it.

"You had the full confidence of those who organised it and you
expected substantial financial benefit. Those who organise or play a
part in this activity must expect to pay with a substantial custodial
sentence. I am sorry that someone as intelligent and talented as you
should be involved in something like this."

The court was told how McMahon had made contact with Lavene and a
Peruvian drug trafficker while following her husband around the world
to horsebreeding and showjumping events. She had many friends in the
South American polo circuit, where cocaine was a regular feature. When
she met Lavene, she was in her late forties and unhappy in her marriage.

McMahon, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine, was
flattered by the attention he gave her and the money he lavished on
her and began to drink heavily and take drugs. The two set up a safe
house in Chelsea, west London, which, unbeknown to them, was being
bugged by Customs officers. The flat was "rife with drugs and sex,"
the court was told. Pictures taken from video surveillance showed the
couple meeting major traffickers in a fashionable wine bar in Chelsea.

Mr McMahon, who retired from showjumping to run a stud, only found out
about his wife's affair when she was arrested at Heathrow - through
which she and Lavene intended to import Peruvian asparagus concealing
cocaine - last July. But she turned to him when she was being held in
a police cell, complaining that she was "being treated like a common
criminal". Mr McMahon, who sold the family home in February, has
remained loyal.

An accomplice, Ronald Walker, 51, of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, was
found guilty after an eight-week trial and will be sentenced next
week. Three other men, Idris Williams, 67, of Hampton, south-west
London, Charles Thomas, 46, and Brian Storey, 41, both of Slough,
Berkshire, were acquitted of conspiracy to import cocaine. The jury
failed to reach a verdict on Lewis Hall, 31, of Stanwell, Surrey.

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